Perry superintendent says closure of nuclear power plant would be ‘catastrophic’ at House committee hearing

Perry Schools Superintendent Jack Thompson spoke out in support of the proposed subsidies for Ohio nuclear power plants at a House Public Utilities Committee hearing.

Bills going through both the Ohio Senate and House are proposing the creation of a “Zero Emission Nuclear Resource Program,” or ZEN, for the state’s two nuclear power plants, both owned by Akron-based FirstEnergy. The company has stated it is looking to sell or shutter its two plants by mid-2018 as it seeks to exit the competitive power generation business.

The ZEN is projected to generate about $300 million for the plants, which includes the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in North Perry.

Those additional funds would be raised by ratepayers, with residential customers’ bills increasing by up to $5 a month. Businesses would pay more. The ZEN program would last at least four years, working on two-year periods for up to 16 years (eight program periods).

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During the May 9 hearing, Thompson urged committee members to support the ZEN legislation.

“Uncertainty around (the plant’s) future causes my district great concern as we plan for the future of the students and families who will pass through the halls of this school,” Thompson said in his testimony.

The plant contributed nearly $14 million in local and state taxes last year and funds 85 percent of the school district’s annual budget, Thompson said. He added that the plant employs roughly 700 people, many of them parents of students in the district.

Thompson said they’ve been proud to partner with the plant and its employees over the years on special projects that “enrich the educational experience of our students.”

He said the closing of the plant would have a “catastrophic effect” on his district.

“Our school district supports ZEN because we cannot allow Perry to close and forfeit essential benefits this plant provides to our community, region and state.”

Thompson was one of six people who spoke out in favor of the ZEN legislation at the hearing. Others included representatives from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Ottawa County Emergency Management Association.

Fifteen groups spoke out against the legislation at the May 9 hearing. Among them were the American Petroleum Institute, the Ohio Manufacturers Association, Ohio Environmental Council, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service and the Environmental Defense Fund.

Dick Munson, director of Midwest Clean Energy, spoke on behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund. He said EDF “often has labeled FirstEnergy’s pleading as ‘subsidies’ or ‘bailouts,’ but perhaps an even more accurate term is a ‘tax on ratepayers.’ ”

Munson said the proposed legislation would ignore markets and support subsidies, saying it’s an “abandonment” of free market principles.

Electric Power Supply Association President and CEO John Shelk testified that the legislation “merely shift the risk and costs from ZEN recipients to customers.”

“Reducing competition is always bad for consumers, but especially so given the dramatic changes underway in Ohio, across PJM (a regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity), and throughout the country in states with which Ohio competes in how and by whom electricity is produced, consumed and managed,” he said. “Under these circumstances, locking in payment via a non-bypassable charge of hundreds of millions of dollars per year, for a large subset of existing resources, for up to 16 years is very unwise to say the least.”

New York and Illinois passed similar subsidies for nuclear power plants last year, though both are facing lawsuits from opponents.

Editor’s note: This article was revised on May 12, 2017, to correct facts.